


Cassius does not always understand

by kimilers



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Everybody was having a salt tonight so I wrote some fluff, Gen, It's super quick though because who writes stuff on a Saturday not me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 16:10:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20011114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimilers/pseuds/kimilers
Summary: ...But he tries anyway





	Cassius does not always understand

The festival was entirely in full swing. There was so many people around, it was easy to get seperated.

“H-Hang on everyone!” Beatrix said, “There’s a lot of people here!”

“Just keep moving and you’ll be fine.” Zeta sighed, “Don’t make any sudden turns either.”

“I know that! I just was thinking about everybody else!”

The crowd continued to move through the motions. It was another good few steps before the circle found themselves out of the rush.

“Oh finally!” Beatrix sighed letting go of Zeta’s arm. “That was so many people.”

“I don’t know what you were expecting when we said we’d have to move past the main flow of traffic to get to the other half of the festival.”

“I didn’t realize it got that bad.” Beatrix sighed out.

“Well we made it.” Gran chirped in and laughed, “You alright Lyria?”

Lyria smiled and nodded, “I’m fine!”

“And you Kyuuta?”

Kyuuta was shaking a little behind the mask in Lyria’s arms but he gave a small nod “I-I’m fine!”

Gran looked over at Cassius who seemed entirely unphased as usual about the ordeal and was looking ahead. “Are you okay, Cassius?”

“Why would I not be okay? It was a harmless crowd.” Cassius stated matter of factly. “It is crowded, but nobody in that crowd means harm. As long as you proceed with the flow correctly, you should be able to get out unharmed.”

Ah yes, Cassius’s long talks to answer a simple question. Gotta love em. 

Everybody seemed safe and like they were having a good time though. That was the important part. Gran looked around and saw what the next half of the festival had to offer. Plenty of food still. And a lot of games. Gran wondered which ones would be easy enough for someone like Kyuuta. He was still young, so you’d want something for a small child. Gran looked around for some games attracting smaller kids when he glanced by it.

A father was helping his son trying to catch a goldfish with his paper net. The kid must have failed a few times because he looked like he was clearly crying, while the father talked to him and tried to guide his child’s hand towards the fish. 

“There you go!” The father said while supporting his son’s hand, “Take it easy, you got it in there, just move it slowly.” and plop! The fish fell into the little bucket. The boy’s face lit up brightly and he smiled at his father, pointing at the fish and looking inside of the bucket.

Gran had to admit, a sight like that was cute but… it kind of stung a bit. Ah, but no. This was a happy day! A fun day! Gran had to stay focused! 

But still… it did get to him a little. His island didn’t have festivals like this, but they would have little parties sometimes. Gran was always invited to them, but he was always alone when he went. Seeing other kids with their parents at things like these… just really threw salt on the wound for him yet again.

He sighed and looked around again. He needed to find something with kids, but he should probably overlook the details in hopes of avoiding to see that again. He didn’t want to ruin this day for everybody.

“Mmmm… How about that ring toss game over there? They’ve got little kid set ups for Kyuuta!”

“Okay!” Lyria said, “Kyuutam you wanna go toss some rings with me?”

“Kappapapa!” Kyuuta said nodding. He was nervous, but he was slowly getting into the vibe of doing all of these activities. 

Zeta looked at Beatrix, “Hey I bet I can beat you at the real one.”

Beatrix looked at her back, “Why the contest? I mean, it’s throwing rings, how hard could it be?!” 

The crowd walked off to the ring throw stall, but Gran didn’t feel his feet moving for some reason. Suddenly he felt really heavy compared to just a moment ago. Why? Did seeing that father and son really get to him? That couldn’t be it. They were just enjoying themselves like he should be doing.

He watched everyone run off towards the ring toss, going further and further away. 

Maybe a moment to himself wouldn’t hurt right now. He could just… slip off on his own for a bit.

Gran slipped between two stalls and took a shaky breath. He didn’t have many weak points, but anything related to his father definitely dug up some old wounds as usual.

He couldn't stay this way though. Not like this again. Last time the crew went bonkers trying to cheer him up, and it meant so much to him but it didn’t exactly take it away. 

A few minutes… that was all Gran needed right now. If he could have that much, he could do this.

“Is there something wrong, Gran?” A familiar voice rang behind him. 

He thought everyone had run off to the ring toss and didn’t notice him slip away for a moment. He was almost certain he accounted for everyone, and yet… Cassius had somehow spotted him.

“I noticed you slip in here as if you didn’t want to be seen. Are you pulling a prank?”

“Ah…No.” Gran answered shortly. He didn’t turn around. His eyes were already getting wet thinking about everything and he knew Cassius would not understand something like this.

“Then why are you back here? It makes no sense to split up from everyone and go someplace like this.”

It was obvious Gran didn’t have many choices here. He could try to lie to Cassius and cover it up with another lie, or he could just face up and admit he wasn’t doing too well at the moment. Yes, Cassius wouldn’t get it, but maybe that was for the best. 

“I just…” Gran said, “I just needed a second.”

“Needed… a second…” Cassius repeated slowly, “Were the crowds too much for you?”

Gran shook his head. He could feel the pressure of the moment getting to him and his tears slowly began to fall. “Just… something I noticed.” his voice started to crack as he reflected on the scene he saw from before.

Cassius stood still for a moment before widening his eyes a bit, “You’re crying?”

Gran took a deep breath quickly. He slipped up and Cassius figured it out. He shook his head and quickly turned around, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve, “Nothing. Nothing! It’s nothing! I promise!”

“You don’t come across as one to cry so easily. Did somebody hurt you? Did you eat something bad?”

“N-No!” Gran could feel his emotional weight shifting very quickly at Cassius’s reaction. He was guessing a bunch of good things, but like Gran knew, Cassius would never guess the problem.

“Then what is the problem?” Cassius asked, “You don’t seem to be any different from a few minutes ago.”

Gran sighed. Cassius really wanted an answer, but Gran wasn’t sure how to give it to him. Was he even the right person to have this kind of discussion with?

“Hey… Cassius.” He said, “I know you said you don’t want to talk about the moon, and you don’t have to… but… do you know your parents up there?”

“I don’t understand. This was about you, was it not? What does me and the moon have to do with you crying?”

“You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.” Gran said, “I’m just wondering.”

There was a moment of silence between the two before Cassius let out a light sigh, “If you are asking about those who contributed toward my genetic composition, then no. I do not know about them.”

Gran took a second to process how Cassius had phrased that. It was so far detached from “my parents” or “my mom and dad” that he could actually tell for a minute “oh right, this guy really is an alien.” 

“I… see. Have you ever met them?” Gran asked some more. “Ah… if these questions get to be too much you don’t have to answer.”

Cassius was aware he was basically giving information on the moon out to others. Normally, he would have never come this far, but with Gran… it felt a bit different. Gran was so kind and gentle to everyone, Cassius included, that Cassius couldn’t even picture the knowledge of the moon being in bad hands with him. Maybe that was why Cassius trusted Gran so much. “I have not.” he started, “Those born on the moon are born from a monitored container that holds both genetic compositions needed to create a living person. From there, they are monitored until they are of an acceptable age to begin their pre-assessment training.”

Ah, how weird. All the sadness from before was just replaced with sheer confusion and surprise at this twist. Cassius wasn’t even born from a person? No, nevermind. Gran couldn’t stay on that too long or else he’d really get confused. The moon was different. He acknowledged this a long time ago.

“Would you ever want to meet them though?” Gran asked. “Like… if you had a chance to see your father… would you do it?”

Cassius made a strange face at that question, “What kind of question is that? Why would I want to meet him? Nothing would come out of it.”

Gran sighed, “I see…” he said slightly defeated, “So you probably wouldn’t get it.”

Taking a moment to look at the entire situation, Cassius tried to patch the information he had received to reach a reasonable conclusion. Gran was upset, asking a lot of questions about parents… “Gran, are you missing your parents?”

A nail on the head and the heart. Gran nodded, “A little. It’s kind of a long story, but I haven’t seen my father in years. I kind of get upset about it sometimes.”

“Not seeing your father upsets you?” Cassius asked.

Gran nodded, “Y-Yeah… You see, down here, it’s more normal to keep your family together. So when somebody doesn’t have that… it feels bad.”

“It… feels bad.” Cassius repeated slowly. It was as if he was putting in an honest attempt to try and understand Gran’s current state. 

“It’s not like I can see him easily either. I’m looking for him now, but I haven’t had any luck.” Gran explained, “So sometimes it’s really hard.”

Cassius stayed quiet, as if he were trying to think of something to say. Gran knew Cassius wasn’t exactly one to get into emotional discussions, so Gran didn’t blame him for the difficulties.

“I’m not the best person to talk to with these kinds of problems.” Cassius said, “Emotions are not my strong point and I will not pretend they are.” he continued, “But if you are getting upset by feeling alone, perhaps you could seek the company of others rather than isolating yourself.”

Gran chuckled a bit, “You’re right. I know you are.” he sighed, “It’s just hard sometimes. You probably don’t get it, but it’s not that easy.” he let out a weak laugh, “It’d be great if I could just look at things the way you do sometimes.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Cassius said rather loudly, “You’re a fossildweller, not somebody from the moon. Living the way I lived would be nothing but an inconvenience for you.”

“But isn’t it easier?” Gran asked, “You wouldn’t be upset like this.”

Letting out a small sigh, Cassius stepped closer to Gran, “It is true, I would never be upset over something like this. It is entirely a sentimental value situation that I do not have. However, you should be aware of your own benefits as a fossildweller.” Cassius said, “Being able to do things like this festival… Getting sad over your father… even adventuring freely are things that I could never have on the moon. You see content enough with your life here that the idea of you changing is incomprehensible… Besides, I rather enjoy watching your behavior and actions. Even now, it is fascinating to me.”

“It sure isn’t to me.” Gran sighed and leaned in to Cassius. “I’m the captain and I’m supposed to lead everyone but… I get tired too, you know?”

Cassius stood frozen. He had no idea what to do with sentimental situations to begin with, but he had never actually had somebody literally lean on him at any point like this.

Being physically touched had its own merits to study, but Cassius quickly assessed that now was not a good time to use Gran as a tool of research. 

Still… what was he supposed to do?

Cassius quickly thought back on everything that he had seen his time here on land with everyone and tried to think if he had seen anything similar to this before. What did this other person do?

He recalled that there were a number of times where Beatrix would cling on to Zeta as if holding on to her whining over something or another and Zeta would simply pat her head telling her it would be okay.

Was that what he was supposed to do? Was that what skydwellers did? Did that help them? It didn’t appear to solve anything but Beatrix would always recover afterwards so maybe…

Cassius slowly moved his hand up over Gran’s head and rubbed it gently. “Everything will be fine, Gran.” Cassius spoke in his usual monotone voice.

Gran quickly raised his head up and looked over at Cassius’s hand and back at Cassius him, “Uh… Th-Th--”

“Is that not the correct thing to do?” Cassius wondered out loud, “I have seen it done before so I assumed it was.”

“N-No it’s fine just…” Gran blushed a bit embarrassed, “I wasn’t expecting you to do that.”

“Is it not customary among fossildwellers to help one another feel better when they are hurt?”

Gran relaxed a bit. He got it. He could see it now. Cassius was trying to cheer him up by copying what others had done around him. It was kind of funny to watch actually, but he wouldn’t lie, it did cheer his mood up a bit. Cassius may not have gotten the problem entirely, but he knew just enough to know to try to help someone else.

Gran stood up, “Alright, I think I feel better. Thank you, Cassius.”

“Then we should go back to the others before they notice our absence.” 

“Yeah.” Gran said, “Uhh… You don’t mind not telling anyone about this, right?”

“I see no need to.” Cassius said, “It’s not particularly information anyone would need to know.”

Gran smiled as he walked out with Cassius, “Okay, so if anyone asks, we were looking for food!”

“Why would you want to lie to them?”

“It’s a cover up!” Gran said, “Just a cover up! I don’t want them to ask around and get worried!”

“So you’re lying to give them peace of mind… I see…”

That line was just a little dangerous coming from Cassius considering he was learning, but Gran was happy enough still. Where he was from didn’t matter, Cassius still proved himself to be one of the kindest people around, even if he didn’t understand kindness itself.


End file.
